Although the show floor of the CEDIA EXPO 2005 hasn't officially opened yet, there are already hundreds of installers taking advantage of numerous educational classes offered by CEDIA and sponsoring manufacturers. New and old installers alike can learn about anything from remote control programming to acoustical engineering and video calibration. Of course, education is for the men and women who do the real work of installation. Those of us with the cushier jobs - the press - get to eat shrimp and drink free cocktails…

The early-middle months of the year are like Christmas (Hanukkah, Kwanza, Winter Solstice, take your pick) for home entertainment lovers because so many manufacturers of HDTVs, surround sound receivers, DVD players, and rechargeable batteries announce all the new gear they'll be bringing out just in time for the holiday buying season. (Wow, what a coincidence!) It allows us to drool for three, four, sometimes even five or six months over the thoughts of shiny new gadgets and gizmos and other cool things that are probably too big to fit in our stockings (hung by the chimney with care) or under the tree - but don't worry about that, we still want them, anyway.

Sharp is finally ready to begin selling - in Japan, at first, and then in the U.S. later in the year - the LC-65GE1, a jumbo 65V-inch1 LCD flat-panel HDTV, touted by Sharp as "the world's largest LCD model". The new giant HDTV uses a full-spec high-definition low reflection Advanced Super View LCD panel with 1,920 by 1,080 pixels (1080i). Sharp says that high-speed full-motion video artifacts are significantly reduced as a result of Sharp's QS (Quick Shoot) technology. In the new model, crimson has been added to the standard red, green, and blue backlighting in order to recreate previously unreproduceable colors such as "the deep red of aged wine". (No mention was made of the set's ability to accurately reproduce the color of the $3.99 bottle of cheap rose I bought last week, but I guess that's to be expected.) The TV's audio package includes Sharp's 1-Bit Digital Amplifier and bottom-mounted High-Aperture Speaker System.

As is their practice this time of every year, Mitsubishi recently invited dealers to a secret location (actually it was in Orlando, Florida) where, amidst much hoopla, wining and dining, and the all-important dealer/sales representative bonding (courtesy of the wining and dining), the company unveiled the HDTVs which will be available for delivery to home theaters later this year. Mitsubishi's introduction brought to light 17 new models and involved several of the world's most sought after display technologies.

Owners of three Onkyo-made home theater products introduced in 2000 can benefit from a software upgrade introduced this month. The new software will equip the products for DTS-ES Discrete, Neo 6, and Dolby Pro Logic II processing, according to an announcement released July 17.